Of Ripples and Waves
by Escapades
Summary: Set after KH2. One part of Sora's life has ended, to be locked away in his memories. Yet, the boy who held the universe on his shoulders must now face returning to a home he barely remembers. Pairings undecided.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters explicitly under the ownership of SquareEnix or Disney.

Of Ripples and Waves

Chapter 1

**What do you think it would have been like? If we had been chosen, I mean.**

**I'm…not really sure. But…I'm sure I wouldn't have liked it.**

**Oh?**

**I'm afraid I would have been a slave to my own fears.**

**And she doesn't have fears?**

**She does…but they're different fears…fears of the heart.**

**And yours were fears of the mind?**

**No.**

**Then?**

**Fears of the soul.**

Sora looked up into the slowly darkening sky, watching as the azure formed into a flaming orange and then to a deep indigo. It was funny. He couldn't remember for the life of him the simple daily changes in his own home. His memories held faint memories of a home, but the pictures were jumbled up, smothered in the numerous memories of the other worlds he had gone to.

Of the other life he had led.

It was over now, he assumed. And it was true. The Keyblade's presence, once so strong and bright within his heart, was now a dim flicker, much like the memories he had of his home. It was a saddening thought- the weapon was much a part of himself now- but also one of relief. The Universe no longer rested on his shoulders. His friends, the friends he had longed to see for years and years, were right next to him, watching the sun set from their favorite spot next to the curved paopu tree. King Mickey's letter, still in his hand, still seemed false.

"So what should we do now," said Riku in his usual soft voice. The silver-haired youth hadn't said much since their return to the islands, lost as usual in his own thoughts. Sora ventured a thought into Riku's journey, wondered just how much he had endured when Sora could almost not bear to remember his own journeys, the pains, the joys. The losses.

"You should go to school," said Kairi, as if it were a matter-of-fact.

"What for?" Sora heard himself saying. School, family, it all seemed so distant to him now. Well, not family, he supposed, but he had gone through more with his companions than he reckoned most families went through in three generations. They had fought for each other, sacrificed for each other. They had run into battle with the full understanding that, if the need ever rose, they would die for each other.

"Well, it's the law," said Kairi, brushing strands of her auburn hair from her face as a breeze blew by. "And don't you want to meet everyone again? With you two back, it'll be just like old times!" Sora laughed and Riku smiled as she faced them and began to dance in a very Selphie-ish manner.

Strangely enough, it was Riku who agreed first. "Well, Sora? Why shouldn't we? We might as well be normal teenagers for a while until we figure something out." Sora stared at him for a second and then broke into his grin while nodding.

But while Kairi broke into description about their school, the grin slowly faded as Sora looked out over the ocean to the island on the far side.

"Kairi?" he said.

"And the gym- Huh?"

"What happened to my home? To my parents, I mean. Did they ever try to find me? Were they worried?"

Kairi's smile began to falter and she didn't answer for a while. As she opened her mouth to say something, they heard a familiar voice yell, "Kairi! There you are!"

A bouncy-haired brunette had sailed up near the island and was waving at them, standing precariously on a small sailboat. Next to her, a blonde-haired boy holding a blitzball looked towards them, shielding his eyes from the light.

Kairi waved back and turned to Sora again, her expression worried, but Sora, oblivious to that, ran over to the side of the island waving and shouting. She was about to stop him, to tell him, before she felt a strong grip on her arm.

"Riku!"

"He needs to find out for himself," said Riku softly.

Kairi was about to protest, but stopped as she saw Riku's own pained expression. No one remembering Sora would mean that no one would remember him.

"Selphie! I'm finally back! Did you miss me?" said Sora, still waving.

"I'm so sorry," murmured Kairi. Riku turned his eyes away.

Selphie eyed the waving Sora for a second and said,

**"I'm sorry, do I know you?"**

She turned to Tidus and looked at him questioningly before turning back to Sora once more with a quizzical expression on her face. Tidus merely glanced at Sora and shrugged.

The words hit like a jackhammer in Sora's face. He could feel his smile falter for a second. Somewhere in his heart he kept pleading that it was not true, that those words had been but a play of the wind.But his mind answered his heart with a resounding no. Selphie did not remember him.

"That's not completely true," said Riku, as if answering Sora's thoughts. "It's not that she doesn't remember you. She just has no memory of you."

Sora lowered his hand, and turned to Kairi, who avoided his eyes. He looked at her thoughtfully for a second, his expression unreadable.

"And my parents?"

"They…They.." she didn't finish the sentence. She didn't need to.

Sora looked at Riku, who had turned around and was walking off the round island.

"When did you find out?" said Sora softly, but not so softly that Riku couldn't hear.

Riku stopped and said tersely, "The King told me it would be this way," before continuing to walk away from them.

Sora nodded and looked towards Selphie, Tidus, and then back to Kairi. _You should go_, his eyes said, and he began to follow Riku off the island.

Kairi put a hand on his shoulder. Sora stopped for a second to give her one of his cheesy grins from boyhood, and kept walking. She stared after his retreating figure with sad eyes, and was, for a moment, reminded of that very same form leaving her to fight some demon in Hollow Bastion. While she could only stand back and watch.

_Nothing's changed…_

Slowly, sadly, she jumped off the island and plunged into the water next to the boat, but hadn't realized how tired she was. Her body went limp and the world swam before her eyes. The last thing she remembered were strong arms pulling her up and a warm, beating chest keeping her warm.

_Sora…_

Tidus held closely onto Kairi as Selphie sailed as fast as she could for shore.

Sora found Riku sitting down on top of the bird's nest Sora had used to beat the older boy in their petty race. He, despite himself, chuckled and put a hand on the ladder to pull himself up.

"Don't," said Riku. "No one's used this in years and it's gotten old and rackety. It'll probably break to pieces if you bring your fat head up here."

Sora climbed up anyway; Riku didn't say anything more. Both knew that Riku hadn't really meant it and that Sora would have gone up even if we had. They chuckled as Sora plopped down behind Riku.

Sora gazed up at the sky, dotted with stars. He tried to guess to which ones he'd been. Maybe that slightly yellow one over there was Agrabah? Or the bluish one Atlantica? When he tried to find the yellow-ish one again, though, it had disappeared, and the blue one soon after that.

"There are so many stars," he murmured. "Did I really make a difference?"

Riku didn't answer. The two stayed silent for a while, watching the heavens, recalling memories about a part of them they had closed off forever.

Finally, Riku said, "So, did you decide on what you're going to do?" He could feel Sora shake his head- the entire frame of the little watchtower shook.

"To be honest, we don't need to go to school," said Sora, waving his feet back and forth. He stopped as the tower began to wave along with it. "I've got more munny than I can handle, and I'm sure being a bodyguard or something wouldn't be too hard, considering. And…I don't think I can face my parents yet…"

Riku didn't reply. On the night of the storm, he remembered telling Sora, _We might never meet our parents again…_It was a risk he'd been willing to take. An outcome he had long ago accepted.

They stayed like that for a while, brooding over their decisions, their futures. It was only when the tower gave a mighty creak and finally snapped, causing the two boys to land below, that they were roused from their thoughts. Neither of them were hurt, as it had been bound to happen, but Sora was caught off guard as Riku took one of the sticks used to prop the tower up and tossed it to the spiky-haired brunette.

"We didn't get to spar since our fight in Hollow Bastion years ago," he said casually. Come on, let's see how well we do without our Keyblades for a change."

Sora, with a laugh, stood up and jumped high into the air and Riku jumped up to meet him. The spar didn't last very long, as the sticks were more brittle than dried bones to the two Keyblade masters and snapped on their second slashes. Neither had even reached the ground yet.

They sat back down on the sand after tossing their broken weapons aside, watching the waves. Sora yawned and laid back. The last thought he had before he fell asleep was, _You're right, Riku. The waves really don't change._

_Roxas was sitting across from him. Sora knew, instinctively, that it was a dream. One of those dreams._

"_Sora…"_

_Roxas was gesturing wildly. A haze appeared behind him. Disappeared._

"_Sora…"_

_Roxas pointed, and Sora turned his head to look before he felt a painful light blind his eyes._

"Sora!"

Sora woke with a start. Riku had kicked him. Hard. The sun overhead was blazing, and the seagulls were already moving about. Sora groggily shook his head as he said, "What time is it?"

"I don't think you've understood situation yet, Sora."

"What situation?" Sora, still half-asleep, looked around. There were people around them. So what? They must have been back in Hollow Bastion. He squinted, seeing a blond-haired figure standing in front of him, holding a long sword. But it couldn't have been Cloud…Cloud had…He rubbed his eyes again and stood up, exclaiming, "Tidus!"

Tidus didn't answer, though, and his face became, if anything, darker. So were the faces of the others around them. Sora immediately noticed Selphie and Wakka before he turned his attention back to Tidus, who had raised his his blade- a sword that looked like it was made of water- and said,

"You two are under arrest for the kidnapping and the torturing of the Mayor's daughter."


	2. Chapter 2

Of Ripples and Waves

Chapter 2

**Do you think there's a god?**

**Why with the sudden influx of philosophical questions?**

**Because I find that you tend to think about life more when you feel like it's been taken away from you.**

**Are you still resentful?**

**No, just a little more thoughtful.**

**You were always thoughtful. It's what got you involved in your mess in the first place.**

**You still haven't answered my question.**

**The one about life?**

**The one about god.**

**But you know that it'll lead to a discussion and, most likely, an answer about life.**

**Does it really matter?**

**Yes, precisely.**

**What?**

**It doesn't really matter.**

"You two are under arrest for the kidnapping and torture of the mayor's daughter," said Tidus, pointing his sword at Sora's throat. Sora could see others behind him, each with a different weapon. _When had Destiny Islands become so militant? _He wondered to himself.

It took a moment to register in Sora's mind. When it did, he started laughing. Everyone stared at him, excluding Riku, who was smirking to himself.

"I don't see what's so funny about this," said Tidus, tensing his sword arm a little more. The people behind him were muttering angrily as well.

"I-haha-I'm sorry," said Sora, holding his stomach. "It's just- hah- that that was the first thing Kairi tattled on us when we first met her. We got in so much trouble, remember Riku?"

Riku stayed silent, but his lips had formed a smile, indicating that it was exactly what he remembered. Tidus, on the other hand, looked at both of them bewilderedly before moving forward with his sword, closer to Sora. The laughter died quickly and Sora slowly stood straight again, though this time looking Tidus back in the eyes.

"Then are you denying it?" said Tidus softly.

"I can't tell you that I've protected her, because I don't believe that myself, but I would have died

before I let any harm come to her," said Sora in an equally soft voice, albeit with a bit more edge.

"Liar," said Tidus, and raised his sword. Sora tensed, but it was Riku who acted more quickly. He had Tidus down on the sand, one hand on Tidus' neck and the other hand on Tidus' wrist, keeping him from swinging his sword.

The small group backing Tidus stared for a moment- it had happened to fast- before moving forward towards Riku.

_Fire_.

A blast of fire hit the sand between Riku and his opponents, some of whom fell backwards from the magic attack.

"I'd stop right there," said Sora calmly, one arm up. "I don't want to lose my excuse to mi-"

A second blast of fire hit the beach, more powerful and efficient than Sora's had been. Sora was knocked off his feet and Riku jumped off of Tidus to avoid the wave of heat that followed.

"Lu! You made it!" said Wakka happily. A dour-faced girl with red eyes and flowing black hair jumped off her boat as it hit the shore. She held a little black doll in her arms.

"For Kairi," said Lulu shortly. Wakka looked a little crestfallen, but quickly regained his composure as Lulu walked past him to look straight at Sora, raising one hand.

_That was a Fira_, he thought to himself, assessing the situation. _This is a problem…I don't know how much magic I can pull off without the Keyblade…_

_Wait, what am I saying? These are my friends! I can't just assess them like I did my enemies!_

"Sora," said Riku, tossing another stick to him. Sora caught it and stood up, pushing his thoughts aside. Lulu had her hand raised and everyone else looked like they meant it, too, though it was obvious they were waiting on Tidus' word.

Tidus, who had also gotten up and dusted himself off, picked up his liquid sword again and, this time, fell into a battle stance, the same he had used as a kid and one very similar to Sora's own. Whatever hesitation he had had before in his eyes was gone.

"You take right and I'll take left," said Riku simply, swinging the stick around to get a feel of it. Sora looked towards the crowd and frowned. Lulu was on the right and Tidus on the left.

"What? I'm not going to fight a girl," said Sora, looking away away from the group and facing him. It turned out he didn't have much of a choice, as he only just moved quickly enough to dodge a magic lightning bolt that had fallen from the sky. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riku moving forward towards the other group, stick in hand. Sora felt himself automatically rise and raise his sword, pointing it to the concentration of the group. All questions were gone. He could see them suddenly weakening under the sudden pressure…The thrill of powerful magic began to race up his arms…

Gravig- 

"STOP!" shouted a voice just as Riku was about to jump into the middle of the group, sword point aimed at them. It was if someone had done a Stop spell, not just shout it. Everyone froze and Sora could feel the spell he was about to cast slip through his mind.

Kairi jumped down from a large yacht and ran towards them. Behind her, a rather portly man in a bulging suit also got off and made his way towards them.

"What is it, Kairi," said Tidus, who had not taken his eyes off Riku. Riku, in turn, hadn't eased his form, holding the stick next to his cheek as Sora had seen him so many times before.

_So many times against him._

He shook his head and watched as Kairi ran over to Tidus and began to pull on his sword arm, forcing it down.

"Tidus! What do you think you're doing!" She took the sword from his fingers and held tossed it aside. Several people moved back to keep their distance from the sharp object.

"I'm arresting your kidnappers, Kairi!" he said, pointing at them.

"Kidnappers!" breathed Kairi. "I owe both these people my life twice over!"

The only sound for a while was the sound of lapping waves on the shore. Tidus stared- was it anxiety Sora saw in his face?- at her. It was, however, Selphie who spoke up.

"Umm…but on the island, when you were trying to run over to us and he," she pointed to Riku, "stopped you, we thought…"

"No!" said Kairi, looking from Tidus to Selphie. "They're the ones I'm always telling you about!"

"The ones who traveled to all sorts of worlds?" said Selphie, a look of incredulity on her face. "But, come on, Kairi, you know you just made that up…Remember? It's always been our little joke?"

"Can't you see that they're real? Look at them! They're-"

"Kairi," said Sora, cutting her off with a hand on her shoulder. He shook his head.

_It's alright. You can stop._ He told her silently. She looked at him, for a second before she bowed her head and made a little nod, tears in her eyes. Suddenly, though, Sora felt his hand pushed roughly aside as Tidus walked over to them.

"I trust her word," he said. "But I don't trust you." He led Kairi away to the others and, to Sora's surprise, she didn't resist. Sora felt a sudden pain run through him, a sudden concern grab him like a vice around his neck.

Sora didn't know what to say and only frowned. Tension started to build again, until the portly man who had gotten off the boat with Kairi- her adopted father and the mayor, now that Sora recognized him- coughed. And walked over to him and motioned Riku to come over, too. Riku threw the stick aside and strided over to them, his eyes now unconcerned and his silver hair flowing languidly behind him.

When he had stopped- a little further than the mayor would have liked- the mayor coughed again and said,

"Well, unofficially, I'd like to thank both of you for returning Kairi safely to us…Riku and Sora, is it?" he addressed Sora and Riku. They shook their heads.

"Ah, I mean, Sora and Riku. Well, you have my thanks, and you're welcome on our island any time."

Sora exchanged looks with Riku before saying,

"Actually, we were wondering if we could find a place there." He heard a collective gasp from behind them, only one of which was a happy gasp.

The mayor looked slightly flustered all of a sudden, but before he could say his case, Sora added,

"Money won't be a problem, of course. We can provide for ourselves, at least for the time being." He laughed inwardly at the mayor's relieved face.

"Ah, well, if that's the case, then I don't see a problem."

"Thank you," said Sora. The mayor shook hands with them both and invited them to go back on his yacht before turning around and walking away.

Sora and Riku, tensing, turned at the sound of footsteps running through the sand to them. They eased, though, as they felt Kairi jump and hug them, tears running down her face.

"You're staying, you're staying!"

Sora laughed and helped her up, only to have Kairi tackle him back to the ground again. _I'm so glad_, he could feel her heart saying as it beat against his. _Sorry to have made you worried_, he thought, and hugged her. Riku, after watching them for a second, stood up to make his way over to the yacht when he felt Kairi hug him, too. After a moment's hesitation, he returned the hug, albeit a little briefly, and let go, a tinge of red on his pale cheeks. Sora didn't follow for a couple of seconds, listening to the waves, those endless, eternal movements.

Riku's words came floating back to him, accompanied by his own response. He smiled, and added a small addendum to that. _The waves don't change, may never change. But, for better or for worse, we'll change. May it be for the better._

"Sora, you coming?" said Kairi, waving to him. Sora smiled and ran over to her, the sound of the sea, the wind, and the gulls around him. _The sounds of home._

Watching him, though, were two sea-blue eyes framedby a tanned face.

Tidus' hand gripped his fallen sword so tightly he felt his arm shake.


	3. Chapter 3

Of Ripples and Waves 

Chapter 3

**Where did you find all your answers?**

**The same place I found all my questions.**

**I'm being serious.**

**And you think I'm not?**

**It's just that…you always seem to _know_.**

**And that may be the one thing I regret most of all.**

Early morning sunshine peeked through the window at Sora, who grumbled incoherently and turned as much as he could away from the piercing rays that entered the room. Gulls made their cries somewhere out over the sea, their noises mixing with the sounds of soft zephyrs flowing through the window to make a strange harmony unattainable by any other orchestra than nature. Somewhere downstairs, someone was cooking breakfast, and the smells from the eggs, toast, butter and coffee pervaded throughout the house, finally rousing Sora from the dearly beloved worlds of his dreams.

After the bout from the day before, he and Riku had been invited for dinner and had been given two rooms in the mayor's house- the latter being offered after they had shown their munny pouches. The house was large but not too conspicuous, as the mayor was still a man of the people, and it reminded Sora of his own home.

_Home_. He had passed by his house they were in the mayor's car. It had passed too quickly for him to take a good look, but those same old lights had been lit, and the front yard was still very well-kept. It didn't hurt that much, though.

…_Yet, anyways,_ said a voice in his head.

He sat up on his bed and ran a hand through his hair, feeling it move back into a comfortable chaos over his head. Standing up, he stretched and yawned languidly, feeling the life return to his limbs. Still half asleep, though, he didn't realize he was heading towards the bathroom until he was right in front of it and had noted another person walking in his direction.

Kairi's hair stood up in an auburn halo around her head, and she was rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Her pajamas were white and purple, which reminded Sora of her old tank top and skort. Not that, he noted to himself, he minded her newer outfit. She still hadn't noticed him, so he watched her until she was nearly face to face with him, when he said, "Good morning, Kairi."

She opened her eyes slightly, stared at him a good ten seconds before she turned around, still evidently half asleep and not making an effort to wake up, and murmured something about using the upstairs bathroom. He watched her pad softly away, her slippers making slight scuffling noises as she headed towards the stairwell. Chuckling softly to himself, he opened the bathroom door and stepped inside to get ready for the day.

The bathroom was nearly all white, with its standard toilet and mirrors. He picked up one of the soaps and sniffed it. It had taken him quite a long time to realize how much he had missed that particular scent. Actually, it had taken him a long time to realize he missed any of this at all, so caught up was he in his grand adventure. And when it had finally dawned upon him…

Picking up one of the disposable toothbrushes that had apparently been laid out for him, he brushed his teeth, rubbing a hand through his eyes to ward off the drowsiness. He winced as he splashed icy water on his face and hair, waking him up instantly. Bowing his dripping head over the sink he groped around for a towel until he felt one being handed to him. He took the towel and began to dry his face and his hair before he turned around to face Riku, who was leaning against the doorway.

"Morning," said Sora, finishing with the towel and placing it around his shoulders.

"Afternoon," corrected Riku. "It's almost eleven-fifty."

Sora frowned. "Wait, that doesn't make sense. I just saw Kairi wake up, too."

"What a coincidence, huh?" said Riku rather caustically.

"Yeah…" Sora continued to dry his hair when Riku's thoughts occurred to him. "Wait, hold on, you're not suggesting…" Sora trailed off as his face turned red. "H-hold on!"

"I'm not suggesting anything," said Riku, and straightened up to leave when he found Kairi glaring at him from the hall, still dressed in her pajamas and with wet hair.

"Just so you know, I was sick all day yesterday," she said, leaning over and poking Riku in the chest. "And I'd appreciate it if you don't go off fantasizing and handing out tickets for gossip!"

Riku opened his mouth to make a retort, thought better of it, and looked away, embarrassed, while muttering an incoherent reply. Kairi, satisfied, then turned on Sora, who quickly turned around to pretend to be washing his face again.

"And you're the same as ever! You have no reason to sleep half as much as I did! How can someone not change that much in two years?"

Sora, his face wet again, pretended to use that as an excuse not to say anything. Kairi didn't wait for him and turned on her heel to go back to her room.

The two remaining people waited until Sora had finished drying his face before breaking out in chuckles. Sora headed back to his room, and Riku told him to get down as quickly as possible because they had a number of things they needed to do during the day. Sora nodded vaguely, obviously going to take his time.

"Oh," Riku added, halfway down the stairs. "And your breakfast's about to be thrown away."

The thundering of feet told Riku that Sora had rushed to his room.

* * *

Kairi came down shortly after, wearing mahogany short-shorts and a matching hooded tank-top. Both boys glanced at her, but Sora returned to his food and Riku turned his head to stare outside. Choking down her annoyance, she went over to the refrigerator just as the mayor's wife hurried over to the door.

"Have a nice time with your friends, honey," she called over her shoulder as she went.

"Bye, mom," said Kairi quickly and shortly as the front door slammed shut. After taking a carton of milk out, she poured herself a bowl of cereal and quietly began to eat. Sora, on the flip side, was eating through his brunch with a gusto, saying, as he did so, that nothing was quite like Destiny Islands' food.

Kairi noticed something, then. "Hey…do either of you have any other clothing besides those things you're wearing now?"

Sora and Riku traded glances and both shook their heads. Actually, Riku did have his Order robes, but they were out of the question, so…

"Then we should go buy some! It can be our first stop for the day!"

Sora looked down at his clothes and frowned. He was fond of the outfit, quite so, actually, and couldn't imagine wearing clothes in any other style. But…Then again, these clothes represented a life that was no longer his. A life that _could_ no longer be his. They were the clothes of a Keyblade master, imbued with the same magic - if it was magic at all- innate within his old weapon; a weapon that was only dwindling in his heart. What was this reluctance at throwing away his clothes, then?

"Sora, you coming?" Kairi's voice brought him out of his thoughts as she and Riku were leaving through the doorway. Now was not the time to be lost in his thoughts. He'd have plenty of time to think things over.

They took the trolley-Sora wondered if his memories of Twilight Town's were his own or Roxas'- to a street lined with stores. The first thing they did- Sora hadn't shopped for anything but items for his journey and food since he could remember and Riku hadn't shopped since they'd left Destiny Islands- was to go and get Sora and Riku some new clothes. The two boys stood back and let Kairi choose, mostly. Neither of them quite knew where to start and, to be honest, neither were really interested, either.

"So, Sora," said Riku after they had been watching Kairi move around the racks for a while. "Have you thought about it?"

"Thought about what?" said Sora, following Kairi's decisions with a slight grimace every few seconds. Destiny Islands fashion had changed, as far as his fashion sense was concerned. It now mattered more on matching colors rather than the myriad colors that had been in fashion when he had started his journey.

"School," said Riku.

Sora turned to him. "You've decided on something?

Riku nodded. "I went on a jog in the morning and ran past it. I think you'd find a few things there..._ interesting_. I'm all for going now. We should stop by later so you can see."

"Like what?" said Sora, but before Riku had a chance to answer, Kairi walked up to them and handed out their bags.

"I kinda estimated your sizes, and I'm not too great on fashion, but they'll look normal. You guys look like you're from another world," she said, grinning and sticking her tongue out at them.

_Oh, the irony_, said a voice in Sora's head.

They left the store to go yet another and another after that. It didn't take long for Sora and Riku to be holding at least three bags per arm. Neither were breathing very hard, though the day really hadn't turned out as either one of them had planned. They walked along the street like this, Kairi saying hi to people along the way while promising to get back to them. Sora noticed that these people would cast furtive glances towards Kairi as they passed. He glanced at Riku, but Riku was looking at the stores, watching for...

"Hey, hold on, Kairi, Sora," he said suddenly, stopping in front of a store. Sora looked over Riku at the window of the small shop, expecting to find...weapons, of course.

"Boys," muttered Kairi. "I'll be at the ice-cream parlor over there." She pointed across the street. Riku and Sora nodded and watched her leave as they entered the shop.

The shop itself was quite large- larger than either of them remembered it had been when they had entered as kids gawking at the weapons from the window. A vast array of weapons lay on the walls, from the training wooden swords both Sora and Riku had used when they were younger, to lethal-looking weapons bursting with magical power.

"Can I help you two kids?" a burly man from behind the counter said, eyeing them warily. "If you don't have a mind to buy anything, then please leave. Mind you, I'm not going to sell you a thing unless you can prove you can use it."

Riku ignored the manager and began looking from wall to wall, but concentrated mainly on the broadswords lying behind the counter. They were normal broadswords, too, unlike the ones right behind the owner, some of which glowed from time to time. It didn't take a fool to know which ones had been magically imbued.

Sora, on the other hand, felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the shopkeeper and was slowly making his way to the door when a particular longsword caught his eye.

"Hey, Riku," he said, pointing to a blue longsword that looked as if it had been made by glowing water. "Isn't that the weapon Tidus was using?"

The shopkeeper whirled on him and demanded, "What? Tidus was using his Brotherhood?" This time, it was Riku who turned around and asked, "Brotherhood?"

"Yes, the name of that model. One of the better blades, aesthetically pleasing, too, but not near the level of Tidus' Swordplay...Hmm… I wonder why he isn't practicing with Caladbolg... Perhaps it's still a little much for him?..." The shopkeeper trailed off, then, realizing his customers were still there, glared at them as if to say they had made him say something wrong.

"So," said Riku casually. "What do you think about Tidus?"

The shopkeeper stared at him incredulously for a moment and then broke out in laughter. "What do I think about Tidus? What else would anyone think about our blitzball ace and four time champion of the Destiny Islands Coliseum? He's the pride of our island!"

Sora was wondering what the shopkeeper was talking about when he heard the door open and close. Riku had walked out of the door. The shopkeeper was going on about Tidus's pretty girlfriend, too, but Sora paid him no heed and followed Riku out.

"What was that all about?" he asked Riku as he caught up to the silver haired boy. Riku didn't say anything, but headed towards the ice cream shop, his mouth in a grim line. Sora followed Riku's line of sight and saw Kairi, but she was not alone. Blonde hair and tanned skin greeted Sora's eyes as the two boys entered the small shop. Kairi waved when she saw them and began to move towards them.

"Oh, sorry Tidus, I've gotta go," said Kairi as she brushed by him. "Thanks a lot for the ice cream, though."

Tidus didn't say anything but watched as they left, though not without meeting the eyes of the two other boys before the two walked out behind Kairi.

"I think that should be about it for now," said Kairi, taking a last look around the street. "Maybe we should go home-"

"No, wait," said Riku. "Sora wanted to go see the school and I have some business to attend to. Why don't you two go and see the school and I'll meet you two back home."

Kairi and Sora nodded and left. Riku watched them get on a bus, Sora struggling a bit because of his bags, before his green eyes turned back to the weapon shop.

"You again?" asked the shopkeeper as Riku entered the doors for a second time, though the burly man was looking a little angry they'd left the shop during his rant.

"I'm here to buy this time," said Riku, setting down his bags.

"As I said, kid, I don't sell to just anyone unless I know they won't cut their damn toes off," said the Shopkeeper.

"So what do I have to do?" said Riku.

The shopkeeper sighed. There were too many kids like this these days. After the two boys had disappeared, though, it was only Tidus who could…He stopped, and frowned. Two boys? What two boys?

"Hey," said Riku, starting to get cross. He got the shopkeeper out of his reverie.

"What? Oh. Right. Well, it depends. What do you want to use?"

Riku pointed. The shopkeeper sighed.

"That's a pretty good choice, but no deal. As I said, kid, I don't want you to go and kill yourself, and with that sword, at least hurting yourself is guarantee-Hey!"

Riku had taken the sword- a simple looking falchion- from its place on the wall right behind the counter. He swung it around a couple times before nodding.

"Just do the test already," he said.

* * *

Destiny Island High School- known to some of its more disgruntled students as "Dihs" or "diss"- was bigger than Sora had imagined. Though possibly only three or four stories high, one could tell that it was very well supported- he could see the bowl-shaped swimming pool that was used for blitzball practice, the standard fields, and what looked like a stadium nearby. He could see the flags that represented each island counted in the Destiny Islands region fluttering around the top of the stadium. Perhaps it was just the setting sun that made the buildings look more magnificent than they really were, but it looked great anyways.

"You like it?" asked Kairi. Sora nodded. He really wouldn't mind coming to school, he realized. No, he was actually looking forward to it. The notion was a little startling, and he found himself wondering if it would really work. Going to school.

"Hey, don't just stand there, let's go closer," said Kairi, and grabbed his wrist- his hands were still full- and dragged him around the school, explaining as she went.

"This is Ms. Truman's Spanish class- she thinks she's really smart and stuff, but everyone knows she's a bitch. And this is Ms. Joslyn- the language teacher- very cool, I hope you can get into her class with me. And this side's the math department, Mr. Elliot's really hard but you can learn a lot…" and so it went. Sora found himself enjoying himself more than he had in a long while, just walking with Kairi and listening to her talk.

After they had toured most of the school, they wound up near the swimming pool, where the blitzball team was hard at practice. A tall, sun-browned man sporting a tattoo on his exposed chest stood at the edge of the bowl, shouting orders.

"Wakka! What in the hell was that!" he shouted. "I coulda blocked that with a strand of hair!"

"Ahh, sorry, Coach. 'Gotta bruise from da scuffle yesterday."

"And I'll add one to that if you don't pick up your pace!"

Sora blinked. "Kinda harsh, isn't he?" he said, watching the ball move back and forth across the bowl.

Kairi laughed and said, "That's Jecht, the P.E. teacher. Even though he's like that, he's actually a very warm-hearted person."

Sora watched as Jecht took a blitzball and threw it at one of the players. "I'm sure he is," he muttered. He turned to go, but one of his bags fell from his grasp and hit the concrete floor rather loudly. General activity ceased and someone said, "Hey, look, there's Kairi." People began to mutter and some began to laugh, saying,

"Hey, dream-face, is that your world-travelling hero who saved all our butts?"

"Is it just me, or did the witch find some way to make him solid?"

Laughter.

Sora turned around, frowning. When he saw Kairi's slightly bowed head and felt a sudden pain in his heart, he began to put down the bags…

"Kairi, they're not…"

"Let's go, Sora," said Kairi, taking his arm and dragging him away. Sora followed, and glanced back to see the team had gotten rowdy- Jecht was shouting for everyone to shut up while Wakka had picked a fight with one of the ridiculers.

Kairi let go of Sora once they had gotten a fair distance from the bowl, but didn't talk and shook her head whenever Sora asked anything. Sora eventually gave up and they walked home in silence, though not the comfortable one that they usually shared.

The image of Kairi's bowed head wouldn't go away from Sora's mind.

* * *

Riku greeted them at the door to Kairi's house, but trailed off as he felt the slight tenseness between Sora and Kairi. He sent a quizzical look to Sora, who shook his head. The two watched as Kairi made her way up to her room. The two ate dinner alone that night, as Sora explained what happened, and retired up to bed rather early. Sora rummaged through his own bags and found some blue pajamas Kairi had bought. He found them a little large, but put them on anyways, carefully folding and stowing away his old clothes as he did so.

He crawled into bed and tossed and turned for a couple minutes. The images wouldn't leave. He sighed and knew he was in for a long night.

* * *

A knock. Sora started.

"Sora? Are you sleeping?" Kairi's whispers wafted through the closed door.

Sora turned his eyes from the window, where he had been staring at dark sky, thinking. It was a clear night, full of stars with a full moon. It wasn't really the brightly lit light; it was the bed and the prospect of lying down and resting until morning that unnerved him. Ever since the Keyblade had come into his hands, he hadn't ever had a "good night's rest", as his mother would have called it. That meant eight hours or more. He'd never had that much time to waste on himself, whether he noticed it or not. The night before, he had fallen asleep as soon as they had entered the house and hadn't been really conscious of anything until morning.

"Sora?" Kairi softly knocked. Sora softly got out of bed and walked over to the door, watching his shadow echo his movements on the floor. He opened the door to let Kairi in before he closed it again, not wanting to wake any of the other residents of the house. He turned around, though, to find an image of Kairi that had only been appearing in his dreams. The moonlight danced off her fair skin and the simple white gown- reminiscent of Namine, Sora realized with a start- and her hair seemed to be longer than it had seemed from out under the sun. She was beautiful.

He watched her as she sat down on the side of the bed. A soft, warm breeze blew through the window, brushing at her pale cheeks and flowing hair. Sora felt his heart beating and blood rushing to his head. Kairi stared outside and motioned for Sora to come sit next to her. Both sat and watched the stars glimmer in their places in the heavens, the moon a centerfold for all of them. They stayed like that for a long time, and soon enough, Sora's heart slowed down to normal. When his mind began to wander again, Kairi's soft voice brought him back.

"What?" he said. "I couldn't hear you." He heard Kairi breathe in and say…

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

A/N: SoraXKairi for now. Don't worry, things'll get messy soon enough.

Review please!


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